Which macro lens?

[christopherpm]

My Wife and I want to try some macro photography, but I am unsure on which lens to buy. Money is an issue, so I'd like to start with a "less expensive" lens.

What can you recommend?

[weemannie]

Tamron do a 90mm Macro lens. I have an older one which I have found to be excellent. Sigma do a 105mm which I haven't tried. Both have received very good reviews in the UK photo magazines.
If you're not looking for true macro e.g. lifesize or larger then you could try extension tubes with any existing lenses. They are cheap and will give increased magnification. These have the advantage over a close-up lens in that they don't have any glass in them to degrade the image.

Good luck:D

[Dchemist]

You might check the sticky in the lens section:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=94767

It constains a good discussion on various macros. There is also a good (albeit in german but the photos speak for themselves) comparison at

http://iapf.physik.tu-berlin.de/jbohs/HKO/TUBerlin/dforum/macro/Macro100.html

I have a Canon 100mm F2.8 macro which works well and was reasonabley priced at $470 wo the rebate. It works well.

Good luck,

Dennis

[Mitcon]

The Tamron 90mm, Canon 100mm and Sigma 105mm are all a good choice and a safe buy. All are very sharp and once around f8-11 they get extremely sharp. I prefer the Tamron as my first choice (slightly sharper IMO, I prefer the handling and it's lighter as well as cheaper than the others) would go the Canon as 2nd choice and the Sigma lastly. But really, they are all very good lenses which will serve you well, go for which ever is cheaper if budget is an issue.

[condyk]

Good advice from Mitcon as usual. I went for the Sigma myuself and got some cracking' shots with it. Very sharp and vibrant colour. The Canon is very good but wasn't worth the extra to me for a Macro. The Tamron I respect as I've heard good reports. Pick on price as you can't go wrong really, unless you're seriously into Macro and can afford the more expensive stuff.

[ScottE]

I have a Sigma 105 macro lens, but if I was buying again I would look for a lens with full time manual focus override and a tripod collar. The tripod collar permits rotating the lens and camera which is very handy for macro shots from a tripod. The full time manual focus allows you to use autofocus to get close, but then touch up manually, which is often necessary due to the limited depth of field for macro shots.

The Canon 100 mm macro has an accessory tripod collar, but you have to pay extra for that and the lens hood.

The Sigma 150 mm macro includes a tripod collar and hood and has HSM autofocus with full time manual override. For cost and quality this is hard to beat. If I was replacing my macro lens, this is the one I would look at first.

Both Sigma and Canon have 180 mm macro lenses that meet my specs. These are good lenses, but not quite as compact to carry as the shorter lenses.

[BearLeeAlive]

If cost is a concern get a set of Kenko tubes though they will not work with your kit lens (or any EF-S lens for that matter). You could add a EF 50 1.8 (which is nice to have anyway) and you would be set for some awsome macro shots at less than 1/3 the cost.